The phonemes of Kalagan

1*8

KALAGAM PHONEMES

,0o2 List of the Phonemes^

The phonetic norms of the phonemea are given, with an

'''^'SonBi^n?as'"f/pulcpuk/ 'a small bird'; h /huhay/ •female';
t /tublS/ "water'; d7daSun/ 'leaf; k /kllat? 'lightning' : £
^gataV^oooonut oll'l 1 /deV 'female friend ; s ?flasal7 'to open
bamhoo^j h /tahaw/ 'blackbird'; m /mulan/ rain'; n /nllan/
•?he?' ; a /OaiW 'name'; I /lugay/ 'hair'; z /jam/ 'that';

" ''**vSfela^^i /»lllb/ 'cave'; j /aalel/ 'morning star';
i /.Jujf Utov/; a /aba/ 'cheft'; u /-^ulu/ 'head'; o /♦oloV
Tonlv'- • /8lspa»> Vlck'o Note the discussion of h In section
3°S2aid^the discussion of l (length) In section H.J,

1. Consonant-Vowel Patterning

The following consonant -vowel patterns occur In monosyl-
labic words (C = consonant, V = vowel) : OV - /pa/ 'yet , /la/
'already'^ CVC - /san/ 'with', /kan/ 'to', /bo V ' smell' : GOV -
/gyl/ 'face' ; cove - /kwan/ 'whkt you call It' , /tya:n/ Ito^^Tf.
elttn' . only x and w occur as the second member of a word-lnltlal
CO. In polysyllabic words It proves neoessaiy to Identify two
further non-lnltlal syllable patterns. V - /blatla/ 'fish net';
VG - /bain/ ' snoeae' .

Most combinations of these patterns occur In polysyl-
labic words. Affixed words have been observed containing as many
as six vowel phonemes, /magkamulamula/ 'become bashful » ...'^j
/magsumbwasgay/ 'Incest', /ka'umpawa:nan/ 'ancient'. /magkabaklaV
« big (pi.)', /manlaw/ 'horse whinny',

2. Interpretation of Cl3 and Cu3

Kalagan is different from the major Philippine languages
in that it has voooid clusters containing two syJiabics aa^well as
those containing a syllabic and a non syllabic. The following are
two criteria for interpreting ClJ ^hd CtaJ.

(a) Syllabioity (marked by a perpendicular line under the
syllabic vocoid). Cl3 and Cu3 are interoreted aa vowels (1 and a)
when syllahlo and ae oonaonanta ix and w) when nonsy liable.

" " Izl fh'e author"is Indebted to several fellow-members of the
Summer Institute of Linguistics for help and advice ^^^^ ^^is
paper. Special appreciation is due to H. B, and M. B. Kerr for
aid in charting phonemes and arranging the material.

KALAQAN PHONEMSS z^9

CkuiuH /kuAw/ 'small brown bird', Cbuiu3 /buaw/ 'hole*, CkuAiO

/kwan/ 'what you call It', CduuiH /duwa/ 'two', CbustiA] /buswa/

'oradle', Cdu'inJ /dii*>an/ 'therefore'; CbA^] /ban/ 'turtle',

ClAbAd /labau/ 'highest in rank', ClAtldJ /laud/ 'downstream',

Cka'.^O /ka:uy/ 'wood', Cb«u3 /baw/ «a lunch', ClAbiuD /labaw/

'liar', CdautinD /dawun/ 'leaf, C'aJuAn] /'a'.wun/ 'there is',

CkAMs] /ka'us/ 'native long pants', CkAhdnD /kahun/ 'box';

Lalk'*! /siaV 'saddle', Cbiilu] /biaw/ 'ollnut' , CbiaslJG /bia:la/
II I I II

'fish net', Cgif] /gya/ 'face', ClfiAk] /liyak/ 'section of

bamboo', Cmi^AllnU /mi'alin/ 'to change places', CpAdl:h£]

/padijha/ 'race'; CIaID /lai/ 'custom', C1a1»3 /laiV 'small

bamboo', Cp^^t] /pait/ 'bitter', C'fJ^nD /»a:in/ 'where',

Cs^s^dJ /sa:id/ 'beside', Ckil4i3 /kilay/ • eyebrow' , CkA'fg]

/ka'ig/ 'harvest knife' .

(b) Nonsuspeot patterns. There are no sequences of three
nonsuspect vocoids. At least one of a sequence of three vocolds
is interpreted as a consonant.

CbyiiJi'J /buyuV 'betel leaf; C»Au^d3 /'awid/ 'grasp'; CluiA]

/luya/ 'ginger'; Cm^^uD /miaw/ 'oat', Cni|.ij[u] /nyiaw/ 'miawed'.

3. Description of Phonemes with Illustrations

3.1 Vowels (including all single or syllabic vocoids) „

3.11 Front Vowels

1 Ci] Voiced, high, close, unrounded voooid. /manlV 'peanut';
/tiktik/ 'to shake'; /'idi/ 'here'; /lUwan/ 'exchange'.

e Ce3 Voiced, mid, close, unrounded vocoid. /maneV 'to sew';
/leo/ 'mature coconut ' ; /deV 'female friend'; /salel/
'morning star'; /»ule:pan/ 'centipede'.

50 KALAGAN PHONEMES

3.12 Central Vowels

i Ci] Voiced, high, close, unrounded vocold, A*V 'glve'j
" /'igig/ 'lip'; /'bhd.hidi/ 'a large tree'; /gyi/ female greet-
ing; /diV greeting to mother; /'alio/ 'a grass'; /mal4:m4t/
'greedy' ,

a Ca3 Voiced, low, close, unrounded vocoid. Occurs except with
length and preceding y or w. CgAbl3 /gahl/ 'night'; CkitAU
/kita/ 'we two'; CmAnA'»3 /manaV '"to shoot arrows',

CaD Voiced, low, open, unrounded vocold. Occurs only with
length and preceding z or w. /ga:bi/ 'taro root'; /'a:gio/
'to snore'; /ha:''/ 'a flood'; /kaw/ 'you'.

3.13 Back Vowels

u CuJ Voiced, high, close, rounded vocold. /manu'/ 'to spear';
/bukbtik/ 'sawdust'; /mullV 'go home'; /»ulu/ 'head'; /kuluV
•crab'; /tug/ 'overripe fruit'; /pusd/ 'thigh'.

Co3 Voiced, mid, close, rounded vocoid. Occurs following
~ voiced consonant, /bo'^/ 'smell'; /boo/ 'shell button';

/sumo:llV 'return the same day'; /mo:ll/ 'last'; /do'/ »

•helper'.

Cp] Voiced, mid, open, rounded vocoid. Occurs following a
voiceless consonant. Ct3»3 /to'/ 'calling a boy'; C'ipik]
/'ipok/ 'bobtalled' ; CkakamutwAn] /kokomutwan/ 'to have need
of; C'3l<5'D /'oloV 'only'; CtagD /tog/ 'to string'.

3.14 Examples Showing Minimal Contrast of the Six Vowels

/blkblk/ 'calling a duck'; /bikbik/ 'fine pounded
grain'; /bakbak/ 'voice of the frog'; /bukbuk/ 'sawdust'; /bokbok/
•slushing water' , /llo/ 'to evacuate'; /leo/ 'mature no-onnt, •;
/T4-!f^/ 'typf of hair c^it ' ; /la*)/ 'to o^-^n ^or' j /lug/ ' "Ofvst bird';
/loo/ 'to' t'llk' .

3o2 Proof o? No Interaction Between Vowels

Since there are few minimal oontrastfi to support the
identification of all six vowels, thf! following lists have been
prepared to show that there is almost no Interaction between
vowels in contiguous syllables. In these bisyllablc words, either
the first or final vowel has been kept constant in each list.
Only a, JL, and u have been chosen as the constant vowels because
e and o occur Infrequently and t is limited in its dieitributlon.

'KALAGA^ PHONEMES 5l

3o21 Using a as the Constant Vowel

/manlV 'peanut', /maneV 'to sew', /manig/ 'poisonous
snake', /mana'/ 'to sVc. arrows', /manuV 'to spear', /manog/ 'to
climb down' J /badlV 'knife', /bade'/ 'baby girl', /bastik/
•tatoo', /bastaV 'unmarried male' , /batu/ 'stone'; /sallg/ 'blunt
edge of bolo', /salel/ 'morning star', /Ba:14«)/ 'lamp', /saslad/
'underneath', /salut/ 'repeat'; /kadlV 'but', /kadeg/ 'many',
/kabig/ 'fruit bat', /kasgag/ 'large orab' , /kadug/ 'puppy',
/laloo/ 'talking' .

3.22 Using 1 as the Constant Vowel

/dlllV 'no', /dll4k/ 'spear', /dllaV 'tongue', /bilug/
'blow gun', /plglog/ 'to be ripe'; /^nis/ 'to change clothes',
/'114k/ 'to tickle^, /'lias/ 'to lick', /'ilus/ 'spoon', /'Isok/
'bobtalled'; /mlllg/ 'flowing', /maslln/ 'to like', /mull'/ »to
go home', /moll/ 'last'.

3o23 Using u as the Constant Vowel

/sunt/ 'to replant', /kule'/ a call to baby girl,
/sulat/ 'to write', /suluk/ 'harbor'; /tublg/ 'water', /tubik/
'pain of Insect bite', /tubag/ 'to answer', /tubug/ 'to peck';
/bitun/ 'star', /banug/ 'hawk', /bunug/ 'a type of mud fish',
/bos'un/ 'to smell',

3o3 Nonsyllablc Vocolds

S. CS3 Voiceless, alveopalatal, grooved fricative. Occurs only
after t. Ct5Ab£d3 /tyabid/ 'twisted'.

m Voiced, alveopalatal, grooved fricative. Occurs only
following do LmAdX^u] /madyaw/ •good'o

ClU Voiced, high, close, front, unrounded, nonsyllablc
vocoid. Occurs in all consonant positions. Including final
member of word-initial CO and word-medial OCC clusters,
except after t and d„ /kayto'/ greeting of adult to boy,
/ya/ particle, /byitag/ 'to put', /pagdyamll/ 'to habitually
throw things away' . When x precedes aj. it freely alternates
without contrast with CfO. Ck^i|sn3 or Cki^;n3 /kyasn/

'to have eaten'; C^lijn] or Cla;n3 /yasn/ 'that one'.

w Cu] Voiced, high, close, back, rotmded, nonsyllablc vooold.
Occurs in all consonant positions, including final member of
word-initial CO and word-medial OCC clusters, /kaw/ 'you';

^2 KALAOAN PHONEMES

/walu/ 'eight'; /♦apwatpin/ 'to rub'; /kwahaw/ "a night
bird', /mageumbwatgay/ • Incest'.

3, if Consonants (including all oontolds and nonsyllahlc vocolds)

3.iH Stops and g^

B Cs3 Voiceless, bilabial fricative. Occurs in all positions.
/paD»a9/ 'cliff; /mapdis/ 'to sting'; /pu:luV 'Island';
/sakip/ 'dark'; /luplV 'earring'; /pukptik/ 'a small bird',

Cp3 Voiceless, bilabial stop. Occurs Infrequently In non-
contrast Ive free alternation with Cp3 In word-initial posi-
tion, and after m. C^lmpls] or C^lmpls] /'Impls/'baby bird'.

Cf3 Voiceless, labiodental fricative. Occurs infrequently In
noncontrastlve free alternation with Cp3 and Cp3 word-
initial. CfAlAeG or CpAlAdJ or CpAlAdJ /palad/ 'hand'.

b Cb3 Voiced, bilabial stop, /baoba*)/ 'steps cut in tree';

/mabdis/ 'pregnant'; A^tluV 'hald headed' ; /'ilib/ 'cave'.

t Ct] Voiceless, alveolar stop, /takip/ 'to shut'; /kilat/
'lightning'; /'astag/ 'give'; /'init/ 'perspiration'.

d Ca3 Voiced, alveolar stop. Occurs in all positions , /daktp/
" 'to grab'; /silad/ 'palm'; /budbud/ 'plant by dropping seed'.

CM Voiced, flapped central. Occurs only intervocallcally In
noncontrastlve free alternation with Cd3. CkudA»3 or CkurA»3
AudaV 'horse'; ChAdf»3 or CbAl*1^3 /badiV 'knife'; CdAdAn3
or CdAfAnj /dadan/ 'old'. (Note: CW Is occasionally used in
consonant clusters in the Spanish names for the days of the
week and months of the year, though these words are little
known and used in the mountain areas. Normally, Spanish Cr3
has become Kalagan 1 or al.)

k Ck3 Voiceless, velar stop. /kaluV 'hat'; /'abaka/ 'abaca
■" tree'; /bitik/ 'abaca cloth'; /♦ln4kba«)/ 'woodchip' .

K Le3 Voiced, velar stop. /galuV 'to lie'; /♦abaiga/

'shoulder'; /kadeg/ 'many'; /magteV 'to sew clothes'.

♦ j:»3 Glottal stop. Word-initial glottal occurs but is lenis.
■" There is no contrasting word-initial vowel. Root-initial

J-jJ The fricative phoneme £ has been included with tjie stops

for reasons of phonemic symmetry.

-JKMiAGAN PHONEMfiS 53

glottal is retained before all prefixes except /mang-/»
/nyang-/* and /pa.ng=/«^ /'^imoV 'work', /mag-'lmoV 'will
work', /manglmo^/ "working (pl.)'o Postconaonantal glottal
resulting from prr'" nation contrasts with zero. /mag'ullV
'will return home" , /magull V 'will heal' .

Intervocalic glottal contrasts with a cluster of two
vowels; /ba'ul/ 'wooden chest', /laud/ 'downstream': /ka'lg/
•harvesting knife', /palt/ 'kind of fish'; /sas»ul/ 'shirt',
/kasuy/ 'wood'j /taksi'ay/ 'abaca stripper', /mablag/ 'become
Satisfied'

Word-final glottal contrasts with final vowel. Root-
final glottal Is retained before all suffixes,
/basa/ 'trust' /basisn/ 'one to be trusted'
/basaV 'be wet' /basa^in/ 'thing to be wetted'

3 0^2 Fricatives

s CS3 Voiceless, alveopalatal, grooved fricative. Occurs only
"" precedlng^i. CSlumbAgl /sy\imbag/ 'to have fought'.

Cs] Voiceless, alveolar, grooved fricative. Occurs In all
positions except preceding x. /silsil/ 'to regret'; /susuV
•cone-shaped object'; /tlgassaw/ "small black ant'; /dilis/
•to spear^ .

h Ch3 Voiceless, glottal fricative. Occurs only In Inter-
"" vocalic position. This phoneme occurs only In ICalagan mlmlo
words (where a bird Is named after the call it makes) or In
loan words, /tahaw/ call or name of a blackbird; /kwahaw/
call or name of a night bird; /mamas haw/ 'breakfast' ; /bahul/
'ship*. The last two are Vlsayan loans,

3p^3 Nasals

m CnG Voiced, bilabial nasal, /malismit/ ' greedy • ; /masllm/
"" 'to like'; /'Inqpls/ 'baby bird'; /sama'/ 'remaining'.

n Cn3 Voiced, alveolar nasal, /malisnid/ 'to sink': /maslln/
'want'; /nllan/ 'they'; /danaw/ 'lake'; /ll'.wan/ 'exchange';
/»utan/ 'side dish with rice' .

ja Co3 Voiced, velar nasal, /'utao/ 'debt'; /oaslan/ 'name';
/daoaw/ 'hand span'; /llswa*)/ 'to steal'.

X^T A few other cases of the loss of root-initial glottal have
been observed: /'upat/ 'four', /kaspat/ 'forty'; /UnW • alx^ ,
/kisnim/ •sixty'; /♦ulu/ 'head', /kolu/ "river source'; /'utaw/
'person' , /mautaw/ 'to be born' .

3oM Lateral

1 Cl] Voiced, alveolar lateral, /ba ; law/' talk ' ; /labxm/'oloud' ;
"" /das Ian/" road' J /pusl/'rice storehouse'; /bulbul/ 'feathers'.

4„ Suprasegmental Features

4ol Stress

Stress is nonphonemio, occurring on the ultimate syl-
lable only. When the penultimate syllable is lengthened, there is
also a nonphonemic rising pitch on this vowel, the final stress
being less pronouncedo L'AlikAnJ /^alikan/ 'to kiss'; CkAlajgAg]
/kalasoag/ ^ green parrot' „

l^oZ Length with Consonants

4o3 Length with Vowels

Vowel length occurs frequently, especially with a. Con-
trasts ares /gasbi/ 'taro root', /gabi/ 'night's /nasti/ 'colt' ,
/natl/ 'baby deer'; /bistay/ 'hang up', /bitay/ 'up the hill';
/tusd/ 'tree stump', /tud/ 'get'; /tusbu/ 'pipe', /tubii/ 'sugar
cane"; /tisnig/ 'calm, quiet', /tinig/ 'fish similar to perch' «

Vowel length has not been observed to occur more than ,
once in a wordo Thus It might be regarded as an accent phonemeo

Some bisyllabic roots have inherent length of one vowel.
In such roots and their expanded forms the penultimate syllable is
lengthened,^ /sisgaV 'kick', /magsipa'sispaV 'to kick repeated-
ly"* /sipas'>in/ 'to kick"; /taswag/ 'call', /migtawagtaswag/ 'to
call repeatedly', /tawasga/ 'Call him'.'. Thus suffixes /-asnan/,
/-isnin/, and /-usnun/ cause the loss of length from the root:
/baslus/ 'return a favor', /balususnun/ 'thing returned', Bisyl-
labic roots without Inherent length may become lengthened when
reduplicated, /kalug/ 'tired', /kalugkaslug/ 'very tired';
/tapay/ 'old', /tapaytaspay/ "very old'.

T5T Tn"°one"^occurrence this is not true, /kaslim/ 'want' ,
/kasliman/ "wants'. Compare /kalimasn/ 'fifty'.

Vowels of some monosyllabic roots have length: /IsblXti/
'food'; /yarn/ 'that'. With such, the suffixes /-a:nan/,
/-i:nin/, and /-u:nun/ cause shortening of the root vowel! /ka:n/
•eat', /kanatnan/ 'eatlig place'. The length of monosyllabic
roots is unaltered by prefixation: /magkatn/ 'he will eat'.
Some monosyllabic roots become lengthened with the addition of a
suffix: /teV 'sew', /te:»in/ 'will sew'; /boV 'smell', /bo:'un/
'to smell' .

The length of prefix /ma:-/ is retained when it is in or
before the antepenultimate position: /'imoV 'work', /ma:'»imoV
'he is working' ,

Long vowels result when suffixation brings certain
vowels into Juxtaposition:

a plus ^ or slL (/-an/, /-as nan/) gives a;

a plus i or ii (/-in/, /-iJnin/) gives i^

u plus u or ui (/-un/, /=u:nun/) gives jji
At the same time any inherent length is lost from root vowels,
/dasa/ 'play' gives /da9a:n/, /daoa:nan/; /dao4:n/, /da04:nin/.
/ba:sa/ 'read' gives /basa:n/, /basa:nan/; /basi:n/, /ba84:nin/.
/sildu/ 'provide' gives /sildu:n/, /aildu:nun/.

5. Distribution of the Phonemes (in relation to the word)

5.1 Single Vowels

In word-medial position all vowels occur, except that
^ has not been observed in the first syllable following 2» ^J*
word-final position s. and o have not been observed to occur, and
the occurrence of ^ is very infrequent. When the first syllabic
is 4, the second is most often 4, sometimes a, and infrequently u,
/tublg/ 'water'; /'oloV 'only'; /salel/ 'morning star'; /»4g49/^
'lip'; /leo/ 'mature coconut', /♦llus/ 'spoon'; /sulat/ 'write';
/gya/ 'face'; /»ulu/ 'head'; /moll/ 'last'; /mal4sp4/ call and
name of a bird.

5.2 Vowel Clusters

Six kinds of vowel clusters have been observed in
word-medial position, except following initial 2» They consist
of i. iJ» 01* A either preceding or following a. Only al and au
have been oblaerved to occur in word-final position. 7^ia:la/
'fish net', /tiaw/ 'horse whinny'; /buaw/ ^hole' , /kuaw/ 'small
brown bird'; /k414an/ 'to dislike'; /laiV 'small bamboo', /pait/
'small fish', /mapait/ 'bitter'; /ka:uy/ 'wood', /laud/ 'down-
stream', /mautaw/ 'to give birth'; /ba:4n/ 'sneeze'; /lal/
•custom'; /bau/ 'turtle'.

56 KALAaAN PHONEMES

e and o have net been observed to occur in vowel clusters.^

The oocurrenoQ of the obvious vowel clusters Iba and a^ 7
gives strong support to the interpretation of certain words as
containing vowel clusters \|a, au, la, and al, in section 2. The
other reason, implied in section 2, is the neceaaity to distin-
guish between the contrasting sequences; ua, >[§, uwa. v^i au, aw,
awu . a^u . ahu; la, m> llS, ils, iha; al, ai» sli. (The sequence
ayj has not been observed in Kalagan„)

5o3 Single Consonants

All consonants except h occur initially, medially, and
finally; h occurs only medially o

5pi+ Consonant Clusters

Word-initial consonant clusters have been observed
consisting of either z preceded by any of ^, b, t, d, k, £, s, rj,
and 1;8 or w preceded by k, b, t, or 1, /gyatay/ 'killed^;
/byayad/ 'paid' ; /tyasn/ 'eaten'; /dyamil/ 'threw away'; /kyalut/
•scratched'; /gya/ 'face'; /gyalae/ "cleared land'; /ayaSasba/
•burned'; /nylndig/ 'stood'; /lyos/ 'passed through'; /kwahaw/ ,
'nightbird'; /bwaya/ 'crocodile'; /twalya/ 'towel'; /dwa/ 'two'
i (short form of /duwa/) » ,

Word-medial clusters of almost any two consonants oocuro
Two limitat-ions are that h does not occur in clusters, and that
clusters mt , md, ng^ and nb have not been observed. Word-medial
clusters of three consonants have only x or w as the third member,
/sumbwasgay/ 'incest'; /pagtyulud/ "pushed',

"" ~ ■('67 There Ts~evidence that some cases of e and o in Kalagan
are derived from'earlier an and a^u sequences. This is illu-
strated by comparing /le*)/ 'mature coconut' and /loo/ 'to speak'
with the cognates /la^io/ and /la*>uo/ respectively in a nearby
language, Mansaka,

However, many cases of e and o in Kalagan cannot be
traced in this way, and have no Mansaka cognates. In addition
many cases of a^l, ai, a^u . and au are found in Kalagan,

(7) C4] is here regarded as an obvious vowel, since, although
it is phonetically high like z and w, it never occurs as the
nonsyllablo member of a vocoid cluster. Specifically, C*J does
not occur initially, medially between a' s, or finally after a

— all places where s. a^^L w frequently occur,

(8) m and n plus infix /-y-/ give jiy, /mat^y/ 'will die' ,
/ny at ay/" 'dead"; /oisi/ 'smile', /nyisl/ 'amU^d' , _f

OCEANIA LINGUISTIC MONOGRAPHS

No. 3

STUDIES IN PHILIPPINE LINGUISTICS

t-y

Members of the Siurmer Institute of Ling"aistics
(Pacific Branch)

University of Sydney, Australia
1958